Traveling-grate furnace



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

P. H. RICHARDS.

Patented Oct. 16, 1894.

(N o Model.)

TRAVELING GRATE FURNAGE. N0. 527,451.

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(No Model.) 2 sheetssheet 2. F. H. RICHARDS.

v TRAVELING GRATE PURNAE. N0. 527,451. Patented OG'L. 16, 1894.

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'f' NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS II. RICHARDS, oF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, -AssIeNoR To ECKLEY n. CoXE, oF DRIFToN, PENNSYLVANIA.

TRAVEL`INGG RATE FU RNACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 527,451, dated October 16, 1894.

Application filed July 12.1894. Serial No. 517,300. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, FRANCIS I-I. RICHARDS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Traveling-Grate Furnaces, of which the following Vis a specilication.

This invention relates to traveling-grate furnaces; the object of my present invention being to provide, in connection with a furnace of this class, traveling-grate-mechanism in which the traveling grate will be supported upon suitable ways and will be operated without the use of driving-shafts and chain-wheels at opposite ends of its fuel-supporting run; also to provide improved and effective mechanism for simultaneously imparting a sliding movement to the upper and lower runs ofthe grate in opposite directions, respectively, and to so construct and organize saidmechanism as to permit these runs to beplaced relatively near together so as to reduce the vertical space required for the grate-mechanism and thereby render the grate applicable to furnaces wherein only a small vertical space is available therefor.

In the drawings accompanying and forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation of a portion of a furnace` l embodying my present improvement, said figing meansfor supplying air` to the` fuel carried upon the upper fuel-carrying runof the grate. Fig.2 is a `similar sectional side elevation of a portion of the furnace, the air-sup` ply apparatus being removed, a portion of the travelingpgrate being` broken away` and another portion of the grate being shown in sec-` tion, said figure showing another position as- 5o portion of the air-pressure chambers between the upper and lower runs of the grate being broken awayto more clearly show the grateactuating mechanism.

Similar characters designate like parts in all the figures.

In the preferred embodiment thereof herein shown and described, my improved furnace has an endless internally-toothed fuel-carrying grate comprising an upper and lower run supported for simultaneously sliding movements longitudinally of the furnace-chamber iniopposite directions, respectively, and made up of a series of transversely-disposed gratesections pivotally connected together; fixed slide-ways or guides for supporting and directing the movements of the upper and lower runs of the grate, a revoluble driver in engagement with the upper and lower runs at a point remote from the ends thereof and adapted for imparting a sliding movement to the upper and lower runs of the grate simultaneously in opposite directions, respectively, and means for rotating said driver, all of which will be hereinafter more fully described.

y For illustratiugthe application and mode of operation of my present improvements, I.

have shown the same applied to a furnace similar to that shown and described in Letters Patent of the United States No. 499,716, granted to Eckley B. Coxe June 20, 1893, to

which reference may be had. In the present instance, however, the furnace-chamber C is shown covered for a considerable portion of its lengthby a reverberatory roof, A.

y The furnacechamber is inclosed at the sides and ends thereof by the usual side-walls, 2 and 4, and the front and rear end-walls, 3 and 5. At the rearward end of the furnacechamber is the usual bridge-wall, 7, and at the forward end of said chamber is the usual ICC In this instance of my invention the upper and lower runs 10 and 11, respectively, of the grate G are made up of a series of transversely-disposed grate-sections, e, pivotallyconnected together, as shown at 9, and supported for sliding movement longitudinally of the furnace-chamber preferably in channels or guide-ways, 20, atopposite ends thereof, which channels are located between inner and outer tracks, 21 and 22, respectively. These tracks, in practice, will usually be continuous, as most clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the upper portion of the inner tracks 21 constituting a guiding support for-the fuel,- carryingrun of the grate,and the lower portion of the outer tracks 22 constituting a guiding support for the lower run of the grate, said tracks being usuallyin the natureA of laterally projecting flanges formed', upon the side-plates,23 and 23', of the furnace-Y chambelg'as will be readily understoodv by reference to Fig. 11, of the drawings. The

grate-supportingportions of the tracks 2.1

revoluble drivers,` 12 and 112,', carried by aV transverse shaft, 13, Yjournaled'in bearings in the framework, said drivers being in the nature of pinions, the teeth of which engage the teeth of the upper and lower runs of the grate at opposite ends thereof,.as most clearly shownin Figs, 1 and 4, and being-locatedI intermediate to, and remote from, the ends of the grate-supporting` portions of the tracks 21 and 22-. As a means for driving theshaft` 13, said shaft will usually be provided at one end thereofwith aiworm-wheel, 40, driven by a worm, 41', carried upon a driving shaft, 42, journaled in bearings upon the framework, which shaftwill be provided with a drivingwheel,44, ywhich may be-drivenby abelt (not shown) from any suitablesource of power.

Inpractice, the upper and lower portions of the inner track 2 1 of each s'etof tracks will be a distanceapart substantially eqi to the width-of one of the grate-sections wh will permit the traveling grate to `makea circuit in a relatively narrow spacethe sections making shcrt angular turns at opposite endsl nels at the forward and rearward ends of the inner and outer tracks being of sufficientwidth to permit the unobstructed movement of the grate-sections. It will be noticed by reference to Figs. 1 and 2 that the end-po-rff -tions ofthe inner tracks 21 act as fnlcrums jupon which the grate-sections oscillate in their traveling movement from their lower run positions to their upper run positions, various portions of one or more grate-sections being in contact with the ends of said tracks at various times while other portions thereof are out of contact therewith at the f same time.

By this construction and arrangement of grate-mechanism said mechanism is rendered applicable to furnaces in which relatively small space is available, and another advantageous feature of Athis construction is that at the end' of the combustion period the resultant cinder will be carried over the deliveringend of vthe grate by the sectionupon: which. it is supported and will be delivered directly therefrom into the ash-pit-without Vdropping from one grate-section to another as the sections are passing from theirupper Yto their lower run position at the delivering end. of the grate as is customary in furnaces .of this class employing traveling grates, thus,

in a great measure, preventing ash deposits grate and maintaining a cleanliness very d'esirable.

As a means for supplying air to the fuel upon the upper run of the traveling grate, I

have providedlan air-suppl y apparatus, which in the lform thereof herein shown consists of ai series of air-pressure chambers, a, a and a2, located between: the upper and lower portions of the inner track 21 and having inlet and outlet openings contiguous to the lower and upper runs of thegrate, respectively, and an air-supply chamber, J, located below the lower, run of the grate and having an outlet opening in communication with each air-` cchambera, c and a2, respectively, said outlet openings being provided with perforated slide-valves adapted for regulating the effective areas of the outlet openings'and' the consequent'air-pressure in the several chambers a, a and a2. By this-means air is supplied tothe air-pressure chambers through the lower runy of the grate and from thence to the fuel through the upper run-of thegrate,

the pressure in the air-chambersbeing so regl ulated relatively to each other as to supply air to the fuel at varying pressures at suc- IOO -between the upper and lower runs of the t combination with the furnace-chamber and its inclosing walls, of an endless internallytoothed fuel-carrying grate comprising an upper and lower run supported for simultaneous movement longitudinally of the furnace in opposite directions, respectively, and consisting of a series of grate-sections pivotally-connected together and having air-supply openings therethrough, ixed guide-ways for supporting and directing the movement of the upper and lower runs of the grate, revoluble drivers supported intermediate to and remote from theends of the guide-ways and engaging the upper and lower runs of the grate, means for rotating said drivers to v simultaneously impart a traveling movement tothe upper and lower runs of the grate in opposite directions, respectively, and means for supplying air through both runs of said grate to the fuel carried upon the upper run thereof substantially as described.

2. In a furnace of the class specified, the combination with the furnace-chamber and its inclosing walls`,of an endless traveling grate comprising a series of transversely-disposed perforated grate-sections pivotally connected together andhaving integral internal teeth at opposite ends thereof, longitudinally parallel tracks supporting the upper and lower runs of said grate and located at a distance from one another substantially equal to the width of one of the grate-sections, revoluble toothed drivers in engagement with the teeth of the opposite grate-sections and carried by a shaft remote from the gratesections at the extreme end of said tracks, means for rotating said drivers to impart a traveling movement to the upper and lower runs of the grate in opposite directions, re-

spectively, and means for supplying air through both runs of said grate to the fuel supported upon the upper run thereof sub` .stantially as described.

3. In a furnace of the class specified, the combination with the furnace-chamber and its inclosing Walls, of an inner and outer continuons track located at each side of the furnace-chamber and adapted for supporting the f upper and lower runs, respectively, of a travtracks at each side of the furnace-chamber,

revoluble drivers -each of which is in engagement with the teeth of both the upper and lower runs of the traveling grate at points remote from the forward ends of the tracks,

`grate-sections as they pass from their lower run to their upper run position, and means for supplying air through theperforations of `both the upper andlowerruns of the grate to the fuel supported upon theupper run thereof, substantially as described.

4. In a furnace of the class specified, in combination, an endless traveling grate comprising an upper and lower run consisting of a series of pivotally-connected grate-sections having air-supply openings therethrough, means substantially as described for supporting the upper and lower` runs of the grate in relatively close proximity and for eecting a rocking movement to the grate-sections as theypass from their lower run positions to their upper run positions during the traveling movement thereof, means substantially as described for imparting a traveling movement to the upper and lower runs of the grate simultaneously in opposite directions, respectively, and means for supplying air through the air-supply openings in both the upper and lower `runs of the travelinggrate, to the fuel supported upon the upper run thereof substantially as described.

5. Ina furnace of the class specified, in combination, an endlesstraveling grate comprising an upper and lower run, each consisting of a series of pivotally-connected-grate sections, means substantially as described for `supporting the upper and lower runs of the grate in relatively close proximity and for ef- IOO fecting a rocking movement to the grate-sections as they pass from their lower run positions to their upper run positions during the traveling movement thereof, means substantially as described for imparting a traveling movement to the upper and lower runs of the grate simultaneously and in opposite directions, respectively, and means for supplying air to the fuel carried by the grate at varying pressures `atsuccessive points in the traveling movement thereof, which consists in a series of air-pressure chambers located between the lower and upper runs of the grate and having inlet and outlet openings contiguous to said lower and upper runs, respectively, an air-supply chamber located below the lower run of said grate and having valve regulated outlet openings in communication with the air-pressure chambers located between the two runs of said grate, and means forsupplying air to said air-supply chamber, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth. i

6. In a furnace of the class specified, the combination with the furnacechamber and its inclosing walls, of two endless tracks or guide-Ways secured one to each side wall ofthe `furnace-chamber, an internally-toothed endtIo lchamber located below the-lower run of said grate and adapted for supplying air through the lower run of the grate to the series of air- I5 supply chambers located between the upper and lower runs of the grate and through the upper run to theifuel supported upon said grate, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

FRANCIS H. RCHARDS.

Witnesses:

FRED. J. DOLE, EMMA G. FOWLER.l 

